Refining petroleum and its by-products.



E. A. STARKE.

REFINING PETROLEUM AND ITS BY-PRODUGTS.

APPLICATIQN FILED MAY 25, 1911.

1,109,187 Pa ented Sept.'1,1914.

W532 eases fidenzar';

' .Z h a 1. Siam}? A. s'rAnxE, or BERKELEY, cameos-am.

'- 1,1 09,1 s7. i e aw ent I Patented S eptQ-I,

T 3 P TROLEUM ANDITS' BY-PRODUCTS.

Application fi1edMay 25, 191i.

' all may concern I Be it knownthat 1, Eric A. ISTARKE, a citizen. of the United States, residing at Berkeley, in the county of- Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Refining Petroleum and "Its By-Products, of which the following i is a specification.

My invention relates to the refining of petroleum and its by-product's, and consists especially in the method of separating the aromatic-hydrocarbons from the petroleum and the manufacture of sulfonic acids. Its

ipairticular object is to devise means whereby s a larger percentage'of'benzene or its homologues can be recovered than by former methods; and also to provide for the conservation and final recovery of the sulfur hydro-xylene, for example, Japanese petroleum.

dioxid S0 generated in the process.

My method is applicable to those petroleums, the distillates of which contain a -nucleus of the aromatic hydro carbon series,-

by which I mean petroleum containing hydro-carbonhaving benzene or its homo- 25 logues, either free or in some hydrogenized combination, such as hex-hydrobenzene, di-

.Callifornia or The refining ofpetroleum containing the aromatic series of hydro-carbons has always been accomplished byv the use and excess .of

concentrated fuming or sulfuric acids, with orwithout the" aid of heat. fuming sulfuric. acid or anhydrid, while; more rapid, is attended by the formation of .considerable quantities The use of -of su'lfones as (C 11 SO and other complex combinations which render the extractions .therefrom of benzene or its homologues, difiicult.

I' have discovered that ordinary sulfuric acid, even. H SOQc an be usedjffor re fining California petroleum under the con-i ditionthat the-reaction takes place 'in thepresence of sulfur dioxid in a closed vessel,

se a in az iiee mailer which contain a high percentage of the aromatlc series, the action of sulfuric acid is twofold, namely, oxidization and combina- I tion. The distillates are heated in order to 1 promote the action of the acid. The exact nature of the chemical reaction that takes place is' not thoroughly understood, except that it is one of oxidation resulting principally in the formation of sulfonic acids, water and S0 Between 16% and 30%. of. the sulfuric acid is reduced to S0,. The sO escapes and the water formed by the reaction and that released by the reduction.

of the Sulfuric acid is absorbed, by aportion of the unaltered sulfuric acid. The. water .thus formed acts as a diluent .and tends to hinder the further progress of the reaction.

and prevent the remainingacid fromfur- .ther action. I have discovered that. if the In the ordinary inethod of refining. petro leum, the reactionbetween the acidsan'd the distillates is carried on. in, an apparatus known as an agitator; the' S0 being re-' moved as formed, The water of rea t e. however, is left behind and tends to dilute" jse sulfuric acid reacts upon the oil inacon.

,fined space the SO, formedremains in'solu-fl i n with the oil and accelerates the action of the acid in some manner not thoroughly understood thereby effecting economy in the use of sulfuric acid and furthermore yef fecting a saving by the recovery ofthe S0 1 at the end of the reaction; Therefore,

propose conserving the S0 through re peated cycles of operation till the reaction.

an economy '1n is complete,-thereby effecting tlme and in the use of sulfuric acid.-

My inventionconsists specifically in the removal of the aromatic hydro-carbon'with 'theuse of ordinary acids by the following steps and means:"

01' oils containing the. aromatic nucleus, such itsCalifozhia. or Japanese oil, saylOO gal ons.q

1.- Ltake' aquantity of California oils;

Without agitation; the degree'of heat and, U

' the. amount of aitation depending. on the nature ofthedist1llate. -1}The heating ofthis oil, is merely. incidentalf to the main process and is for'iil ie pur os of facilitating the 1 actions of the ac ids Llater added. ;Under some circumstances the he tln'g' canev n I b p n e 5 y fiwill require a little.

' 3. Mix therewith 50 lbs. of acid of about 95% H 80 agitating the same rapidly 'in a closed vessel, preferably a closed, centrifugal machine or pump. The pur- 5 pose of using a closed vessel wherein to carry on the operation of agitation is to prevent the escape of the S0 evolved by the reaction of the acid on the oil by confining this gas within the body of the oil to prevent 0 the dilution'of the acid, above referred to. The apparatus" herein illustrated is a very satisfactory form to use for the purpose of retaining'the gases in the mixture until the reaction is over. This mixing should be proceeded with as rapidly as possible, so as to avoid any considerable loss of the 80,. Experience shows that this mixing takes about minute when the mixing is sufficiently rapid, say a speed of from 500 to 20 i000 revolutions per minute in a centrifugal machine. It may be determined when the reaction is over by testing the specific gravl ity of the oil. That is to say, if the oil to be I treated originally has a specific gravity 5 of 10 degrees Baum the action of the acid will decrease it to 41 Baum; this treatment is continued until all of the aromatics are removed; when all are removed the specific gravity of the oil remains fixed. 3 4. The separation complete,'the mixture is allowed to settle for a few minutes, usually a quarter of an hour sufiicing, when it will be found that the mixture has separated into two layers, the lower one being a tarry 5 liquid containing the sulfonic acids and the upper being petroleum containing sulfurous acid or sulfur dio'xid in solution. The tarry liquid is then drawn ofi and treated to give up its benzene and other products according ml to the method'outlined in my previous Pat 'e'nt #918,780, dated March 2, 1909. -5.The petroleum stratum with its sulfur dioxid is then subjected to further treatment according to my present method and pur- 4'5 poses, as follows: The process, as outlined above, of adding fresh acid and agitating in a closed vessel is repeated; the separation aftereach cycle taking place and the petroleum stratum being put through the process as many times-as may be necessary to remove all the aromatic hydro-carbons. It maytake four or five cycles of operation to remove the last traces of the aromatic hydrocarbons. As a rule the greater number of repetitions is preferred because it lessens the amount of acids required. As a result of the reaction between the a-cid and the oil between 16% to 30% of all the acid is reduced to S0,. All of this S0,, or nearly all of the quantity, is stored up in the oil, by

reason of the carrying on of the process in closed vessels, or vessels which are sufiicie'ntly inclosed to prevent the escape of, or .volatilization of the S0 out of the oil.

\ Therefore when all the cycles of agitation have been performed this S0 is stored up in some form of solution in the oil, as an active agent. The oil which remains, after these repeated cycles of operation have been gone through and all the aromatic hydrocarbons removed, is subjected to a process by which the S0 which is held in suspension can be recovered.

6. The next step is the removal or recovery of this SO from the oil residue and I accomplish this by putting the oil into a suitable vessel and blowing air orsteanr therethrough; the air or steam taking up all the SO which is condensed by the ordinary chamber process and recovered as sulfurous acid.

The drawing represents an apparatus for the practice of the invention, in which A is a drum provided with rapid, revolving beaters 2, having a liquid inlet 3, an air escape 4 and a sludge cock 5.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters. Patent is 1. The method of treating oils containinga nucleus of the aromatic hydrocarbon series which consist in adding to such oils a suitable quantity of sulfuric acid and. subjecting the mixture to agitation in a closed vessel until the specific gravity of the 011 becomes constant and no longer decreases upon the taining the sulfur dioxid within the body of the oil and preventing its escape'therefrom, and allowing the mass to settle until the sulfonic acids have separated from thepetroleum.

2. The method of treating oils containing a nucleus of the aromatic hydrocarbon series which consists in adding to'such oils a suitable quantity of sulfuric acid and subjecting the mixture to agitation in a closed vessel until the specific gravity of the oil becomes constant and no longer decreases upon the addition of a sulfur acid, but retaining the sulfur dioxid within the body of the oil and preventing its escape therefrom, allowing the mass to settle until the sulfonic acids have separated from the petroleum, and then recovering the benzene from the sulfonic acids and the sulfur dioxid from the petroleum.

3. The method of treating oils containing a nucleus of the aromatic hydrocarbon series which consist in adding to such oils a suitable quantity of sulfuric acid and subjecting the mixture to agitation in a closed vessel until the specific gravity of the oil becomes constant and no longer decreases upon the addition of sulfur acid, but retaining the sulfur dioxidwithin the body of the oil and preventing its escape therefrom,

allowing the mass to settle until the sulfonic acids have separated from the petroleum,

drawing OK the sulfonic acids and repeataddition of sulfuric acid, but reing the cycle with the remaining petroleum with its sulfur dioxid.

4:- The method of treating petroleum distillate containing a nucleus of the aromatic hydrocarbon series,'which consists in adding to such oils a suitable quantity of sulfuric acid andsubjecting the mixture to agitation in a closed vessel in the presence of heat until the specific gravity of the oil becomes constant and no longer decreases upon the addition of sulfuric acid, but retains the sulfur dioxid generated as a result of interaction between the ingredients with in the body of the oil.

5. The process of treating oils which con sistsin mixing distillates of petroleum containing a nucleus of the aromatic hydrocarbon series, saturating the same with S0 and then treating this mixture with sulfuric acid subjecting the mixture to rapid agita-' tion in a closed vessel so as to retain within the oil the S0 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 1 my hand in the presence witnesses.

of two subscribing Witnesses: JOHN H; HERRING, CHARLES EDELMAN. 

